Internet of Things

• Assures secure device communications
• Improves operational efficiency and communication while lowering costs
• Ensures higher quality of life through secure and trusted communications
• Protects business and personal assets and transactions

The world of the Internet of Things (IoT), with nearly 10 billion devices connected to the internet, is growing every single day and its tremendous growth is affecting our lives in dramatic ways.  Without many of us even recognizing we are using it, we benefit from the IoT as it touches virtually all of our lives and the industries in which we work, such as automotive, industrial controls, transportation, energy, healthcare, medical devices,  aerospace, defense, and throughout the supply chain in each.

Now, through our mobile phones we can pay our bills, shop, even monitor and control the devices in our homes while we are away on vacation.  Similarly, our Dr’s office can automatically receive notifications and alerts from the health monitors connected to our body, reducing the number of visits to the Dr. and lowering our costs while improving our care.  From the factory floor, our machinery can be remotely monitored and controlled through the internet, enabling our factory floor to run more efficiently and safely.  And yes, our cars can now talk to each other to make travel safer and more efficient.  An automated traffic control system that can communicate and direct our cars to optimize fuel efficiency and traffic flow can be a reality for everyone.  All of these “things” are participating in the IoT.

The term itself, Internet of Things or IoT, conveys the fact that "things" comprised of hardware and software that operate on data, and potentially provide services, are all connected via the internet and are uniquely addressable.  Because of this connectivity to the internet and the unique addressability, "things" can communicate and collaborate to make our lives better, lower our costs and enable us and the systems we use to be more efficient.  Many of these “things” or devices can sense and actuate either on their own or can be remotely monitored and controlled by other “things”.  With this connectivity and effectivity, there are many benefits that can be realized by us as individuals and by our businesses.

However, with these potential benefits comes tremendous risk.  As the IoT continues to expand so does the possibility for the people with bad intentions to attack.  Unfortunately, they may be looking for ways to disrupt our lives, steal money, steal our  identities, and even pilfer competitive information from our businesses.  The fact is that with this connectivity comes increasing vulnerability, where the bad people can find ways into the network of connected devices so they can do their harm or steal our information.  A breach anywhere in the system could lead to a rapid infection throughout the internet as we have seen in real life when hackers in 2016 used remotely controlled and monitored cameras to spawn a denial of service attack which brought down a major section of the internet, affecting many people's lives and businesses in a big way.

When operating correctly the IoT should:

• Improve efficiency for us as individuals and for our businesses
• Give us more autonomy
• Lower our costs
• Maximize our safety
• Improve our lives

To enable this to happen, we need to protect these connected devices from bad actors.  Our data must be protected both in the devices and while in transit between them.  Our transactions must be secured and impenetrable.  The commands and responses sent between our connected devices must be “known good” or authenticated to ensure that the systems perform their intended function accurately, timely, safely, and securely.